The Black Hearts of Many
by I.C.2014
Summary: The way Dragon Quest VIII would have been if Eight had been raised by Chen Mui in the Dragovian Sanctuary. When Dhoulmagus steals the scepter and casts the curse on Trodain, Eight and Chen Mui (as Munchie) is sent down to help protect the world from the Darkness is bound to come. Rewrite of an old story, and it will be edited from time to time, so please enjoy.
1. Prologue

**Summary: **The way Dragon Quest VIII would have been if Eight had been raised by Chen Mui in the Dragovian Sanctuary. When Dhoulmagus steals the scepter and casts the curse on Trodain, Eight and Chen Mui (as Munchie) is sent down to help protect the world from the Darkness is bound to come.

**Disclaimer:**** I do not own the Dragon Quest franchise in any way. I do own the story that this prologue or other chapters are based on.**

**Prologue (Flashback)…**

_ Long ago, some twenty year's previous, a curious Dragovian girl by the name of Xia decided to visit the world of the humans. There she chanced to meet a young prince named Eltrio. It was love at first sight!_

_ But her father, Chen Mui objected. He took Xia back home to the Dragovian Sanctuary so that the couple could never meet again. He thought it was the right thing to do. He believed that there would never be any way for a Dragovian and a human to build a happy life together. But he was wrong. His foolish caused no end of sadness and tragedy for his beloved daughter Xia. _

_Shortly after Chen Mui forced his daughter back to the Sanctuary, a human body was found just outside._

_ It was Eltrio. He had fought desperately to find Xia again, but died before reaching the gates of the Sanctuary. _

_The death of her true love wounded Xia to her very soul. She plunged into an inconsolable sorrow. Her life ebbed away from her day by day. One day, even absorbed in her grief, Xia realized that she was pregnant with Eltrio's child. Every single one of the Dragovian's objected, but she stood firm and decided to keep the baby. _

_Xia delivered a healthy baby boy, but in her weakened state, she never recovered from the strain of childbirth and passed away soon after._

_The Council of Elders convened a discussion to decide what should be done about the half- human, half- Dragovian child. It took several years, but finally the Council of Elders announced their final decision._

_Originally, the Council had decided that the child's memory would be sealed away, and he would be banished from the Sanctuary forever. Needless to say, by this time Chen Mui had his mind. He argued against the cruel and close-minded decision at great length. All hope seemed to be lost for the old man, until the Dragovian Lord intervened. The Dragovian Lord had intervened, hoping that one day, through the boy, the worlds of the Dragovians and the Humans would be connected again, bringing peace between the two races._

_The original decision was soon reversed. Instead of banishing the child, like some had originally discussed, the boy would continue to live among them, in the care of his only surviving relative; his grandfather, Chen Mui. He would then learn the ways of their people._

_For those remaining years, Chen Mui lived with his grandson in relative peace, teaching him the ways and the traditions of the Dragovians, not knowing that one day, the boy may one day have to make a choice between the world he was born and raised in, and the one that awaited him._


	2. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Dragon Quest VII or any other of the Dragon Quest series. This is just something I decided to write as a way to make some use of my time. I don't even own the piece where the Dragovian Lord may mention the scepter, that sort of came from the game. I also do not own Macbeth.

* * *

**Present: Eighteen years from the Prologue…**

The sun was shining brightly in the sky. An old man with a grey Mohawk and big, pointed ears walked up the stairs of his two-story house. While he was walking up, he passed a young man with light brown ponytail and green tunic come down the stairs. The older man, Chen Mui, recognized the younger man as one of his servants.

"Goodmorning Master Chen Mui," the young man greeted respectfully.

"Goodmorning Yuan," Chen Mui greeted with a smile. "Is my grandson awake yet?"

The young man, Yuan smiled bashfully. "Not yet sir," Yuan admitted. "It's very difficult to wake him from a peaceful slumber."

Chen Mui nodded. There was no denying that his grandson could be very difficult to wake. "Then I will wake him myself. Can you please make sure that breakfast is set on the table?"

Yuan nodded. "Yes sir." Yuan went down the stairs and towards the kitchen.

Chen Mui sighed. _'I'm getting to old for this.'_ Chen Mui continued his trek up the stairs and walked towards the third room on the left: his grandson's room. As soon as he got in, he noticed a young man with short brown hair, nuzzled into the covers of his bed. The image made him smile. Chen Mui couldn't believe how quickly his grandson, Eight grew up. _'It seemed like only yesterday he was a child in my care,'_ he thought. But Eight was no longer a child, he was now a man. Chen Mui slowly entered the darkened room, walked towards the curtain and opened them, letting the room bathe in the bright sunlight. Eight groaned when the sunlight hit his eyes and turned around so that his back was towards the light. Chen Mui walked towards the boy and pulled the covers off the boy, causing Eight to be thrown off of the bed.

Eight groaned. Eventually, he opened his dark brown eyes to glare at his attacker. Chen Mui spoke once he was sure that he had his grandson's attention.

"Good morning, Eight. It's time to get out of bed now," Chen Mui greeted innocently. "You have about ten minutes to get freshen up, dressed and the stairs to join the rest of us for breakfast. I'll just leave you to it." With that, Chen Mui left the room.

Eight groaned before getting up. Eight knew that if he didn't do what his grandfather asked, the older man would just come back and repeat the action. Eight stretched his back before he began his day.

* * *

Outside, on one of the tallest hills, there stood a seemingly young man with long blond hair standing, holding a scepter. The man had the pointed, red tipped ears that marked him as one of the Dragovian. He wore a long, black and red robe. His green eyes, aglow with ancient wisdom and power, seemed to look beyond the ledge in front of him; downs at something that only he noticed. This man was not just any Dragovian, but the Lord of the Dragovians. As the Dragovian Lord continued to look down on that ledge as a strong wind blew through the inner sanctum. This gale was strong enough to disturb some of the nearby monsters in the area.

"Something wicked this way comes,"***** he mumbled to himself. As he continued to look down, it all became so clear to him; dark omens plagued him. Whatever it was, was not affecting the Dragovian Sanctuary or the people that he had sworn to protect. As of right now, the evil he sensed seemed to only be prevalent in the human world…

_'But if this evil presence were to get stronger...'_ The Lord of all Dragovians suddenly felt weary, like he suddenly felt thousands of years older than what he was. If that presence was who he thought it was, then there is no way that _he_ was going to limit himself with the human world.

At that moment, a white bird flew just in front of him and them paused in midair, as if were waiting to give some message. The Dragovian Lord took out a white slip of paper and handed it to the bird, which took it in its beak.

"Make sure this gets to the Elders as soon as possible," The Lord told the bird. The bird flew away, back to where it had come from. The Lord continued to stand there. "I hope we are not too late," he mumbled to himself. He stood there, waiting.

* * *

Finally Eight made it downstairs, just in time for breakfast to be served. Now that he wasn't covered under his bed sheets, everyone could see the brown eyes shining with energy. His brown, which went down to his neck was partially covered by his red bandana. He was wearing a long, blue tunic, grey pants and worn boots that stopped just below his knees. He took a seat between his grandfather and Yuan. "Goodmoring everyone," he said.

"Goodmorning my grandson," Chen Mui answered in response. "I'm glad to see that you are finally up."

The young man scratched the back of his head bashfully and smiled. Everyone sitting at the table; his grandfather, Yaun, the cook, middle aged Dragovian woman named Violet, and the young maid Xin all had a laugh at his expense. Once the laughter ended, everyone began his or her breakfast with light conversation. Breakfast was a peaceful affair, until someone began knocking urgently to the door. Everyone paused.

"Who could that be?" Chen Mui asked. Whoever he was, the knocking still continued.

Eight shrugged. "I'll get it." Eight got up from the chair and opened the door. Standing outside, was a young man with long dark hair and blue eyes. He wore a dark vest with a red symbol on it. Eight recognized the symbol as the one of the Council of Elders. The man had to be one of their messengers.

"Goodmorning," Eight greeted the stranger with a smile. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"Is Master Chen Mui available?" The other man asked rudely. The man then began to look over Eight and into the house.

Eight lost his smile. "He's enjoying his breakfast," Eight explained politely. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"My message is only for master Chen Mui," the messenger explained stiffly, "not for you. Now just take me to master Chen Mui so I can deliver my message."

"I am Chen Mui," an older voice answered. Eight was shocked to see his grandfather behind him. "And I would watch the tone of your voice when speaking to my grandson."

The messenger bowed respectfully. "My apologies," he said lightly. The man didn't even spare Eight a glance, instead he focused only on Chen Mui. "I have a very important message for you. It came from the Lord himself."

Chen Mui paused. The Dragovian Lord is not someone who always involved himself with the other Dragovians. While he has always been kind to all of his subjects- including Eight-, he does not always send messages from the Heavenly Dias. When he does, it is always something very important. "What is the message?" he asked.

The messenger pulled out a piece of paper with his pocket and handed it to the Dragovian Elder. Chen Mui took it and quickly read through it. The messenger had finally taken his leave, much to Eight's happiness.

Eight tried to look over Chen Mui's shoulder. "What does it say?"

Chen Mui continued to look at the message. "The Dragovian Lord has requested our presence immediately." Chen Mui turned to face Eight. "It looks like your morning training will have to be postponed until we have seen the Dragovian."

Eight nodded. He enjoyed training with different weapons, and practicing with the little bit of magic that his grandfather. Usually, Eight would have been very upset that his lessons would need to be postponed, he was very curious about what the Dragovian Lord would want with them. They walked back to the dining table and explained to the others what had occurred.

Violet waved them off. "You shouldn't keep our Lord waiting," she insisted. "We can clean this up by ourselves." She turned towards the younger servants. "Isn't that right?"

Both Yuan and Xin nodded. All three of them said their farewells when Eight and Chen Mui walked out of their house, towards the building where the Elder's usually convened. When Chen Mui and Eight walked into the structure, four people who were sitting at a round table.

"So you brought the spawn with you as well?" Chen Mui and Eight turned towards the round table. All of the people sitting were as old as- if not older then- Chen Mui and they all had the same, strangely shaped ears. The person who had asked the unnecessary question was one of the two old men who were sitting. The rest were women.

"Yes Elder Riga, I've brought Eight, just like the Dragovian Lord asked," Chen Mui answered coldly.

"Of course you have Chen Mui," The man, Riga drawled. "But it really seems like a waste of time. I can't understand why our Lord would need... _**that**_." Riga pointed an accusatory finger at Eight. The younger man bowed his head and said nothing in response. He was used to this reaction. Most Dragovians just hated him for living and there was nothing he could do about it so he just accepted it.

Chen Mui on the other hand, was having a harder time accepting it then his grandson. He was outraged that Riga addressed Eight in that way. He had a few choice words to say to the man but he knew that Eight would not want him to cause a scene so he held himself back. Ignoring the comment, Chen Mui led Eight down a flight of stairs. The two men walked through a green door and entered the Heavenly Dias.

Eight, noticing that his grandfather was still upset put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Come on Gramps it's okay," Eight said in a soothing way. "It's nothing new. Riga has been treating me like that for years. Please don't let it bother you because it really doesn't bother me... let's just go see what the Dragovain Lord wants with us." Eight walked through the Heavenly Dias, to another set of stairs.

_'No my grandson, we both know that isn't true at all,'_ Chen Mui looked at Eight's retreating back in silence as he followed them. _'It is true that many of the Dragovians have treated you terribly for years, but I can tell that it still bothers you. Even when you tied your best to gain their trust and friendship, they never even gave you a chance.'_ Chen Mui's pondering was interrupted when he bumped into a figure that could only be his grandson. Chen Mui looked at his grandson with confusion written all over his face. _'Why did he stop so abruptly?'_

Eight looked at his grandfather and after accurately reading the expression on the older man's face, he answered the unspoken question. "We're here," Eight said. Chen Mui looked in front of Eight and recognized the huge, crimson double doors that led to the Dragovian Lord's Chamber. The red doors opened by themselves, as expecting the two beings that stood before them. Eight and Chen Mui walked through the doors.

A man stood inside the chamber, waiting for them. He was a young looking man who had the same ears as Chen Mui. He had long blond hair. His pale skin glowed in the sunlight. His green eyes flashed with powerful determination when he watched Chen Mui and Eight walk into his chamber. "I have been expecting you," he said to them.

Both Eight and Chen Mui stopped in front of the figure and bowed their respect to him. "We're sorry to keep you waiting," Chen Mui told the figure. "Is there something that you need of us my Lord?"

The Dragovian Lord said nothing. He walked deeper into the room and towards a ledge on the other side. Chen Mui and Eight followed their Lord to the ledge and said nothing as he looked down the ledge. The Dragovain Lord signaled for the pair to move closer to the ledge without taking his eyes off of it. _'What is he looking at?"_ Eight thought as he walked closer. When he was finally close enough Eight soon realized that he could see nothing past the large white clouds that covered the view. As if to answer Eight's unspoken question, the Dragovian Lords pointed down the ledge.

"Trouble is brewing," The Dragovian Lord answered ominously. "I sense an evil is at work at this very moment." The Dragovian Lord backed away from the edge and looked at Eight and Chen Mui.

Eight looked concerned. "Evil? Where?"

The Dragovain looked explained, "A scepter spoken of in lore. And sealed away since days of yore."

"In the human world, there is a magical item; a scepter that, if ever used can herald the world's darkest hour," The Dragovian Lord pointed down the ledge. "This scepter is supposed to be sealed within a castle located a country known as Trodain. I need you to please go there and make sure that the scepter is properly sealed, as it was supposed to be centuries ago."

"So we are entering the human world?" Chen Mui asked. Eight's mind was racing. He knew that his father was human, but he had never been to the human world before. Eight couldn't help but to wonder what it was like down there.

"Eight," The Dragovian Lord called, gaining the boy's attention. "I need to you go down to the human world and find exactly what has become of this scepter. It should be sealed, as I said before."

"I understand my lord," Eight answered respectfully, "but what should I do if it isn't sealed anymore?"

"Then you must find the scepter and bring it here to be taken care of," The Dragovian Lord declared. "I will then seal in a place that no one else will be able to find it."

"Understood," Chen Mui stated. "We will be ready to go as soon as possible."

The Dragovian Lord nodded. "Please come closer Eight." The Dragovian, human hybrid walked closer until he was standing less than an arm's length from the other man. The Lord of all Dragovians put one hand on top of his head. Eight's whole body glowed gold and then went back to normal. _'What was that?'_ Eight thought.

The Dragovian Lord removed his hand. "The scepter has a very malevolent power," he explained. "Anyone who were to touch it would normally be possessed by it, unless the wielder of the scepter is also cursed. This spell I have put on you is also a curse, which will make it impossible for you to reveal the location of the Dragovian Sanctuary." Eight couldn't help but to look betrayed. "It is not that I believe you would ever reveal our location to total strangers, but you will be able to pick up the scepter without being affected by it."

'_That makes sense I guess,'_ Eight thought. "Thank you my Lord," Eight bowed deeply.

The Dragovian Lord nodded in acknowledgement. "You will be leaving as soon as you are done packing."

Both Eight and Chen Mui nodded. Both were turned around and began to leave.

"Chen Mui, please stay." The older man did as told. Eight also stopped, to see what would happen. The Dragovian Lord raised a hand and gestured to him. "I only need to speak to your grandfather alone Eight." Eight hesitated. "It will be fine. Chen Mui will join you shortly.

Eight looked at both men for a little bit before he eventually left. Once the younger man was gone, the Dragovian Lord turned his attention the Dragovian Elder.

"Is there something you needed to speak with me about my Lord?" Chen Mui asked respectfully.

"Yes there is old friend," the Dragovian Lord explained, "there is something that we must speak about." Chen Mui waited for his Lord to speak in his own time. "You will not join Eight on this quest. I only summoned you, Chen Mui, only as a courtesy. Your grandson is the only one of us who can blend in among the human."

Chen Mui looked shocked. "But Eight has never set foot into the human world. I should go down with him."

"I'm sorry my old friend." And the Lord was. He understood just how much the man loved his only grandson, "but Eight is the only one that can blend in with the human world. I cannot have the Dragovians to be exposed and if you were to enter the world of the humans, that would be inevitable."

"Then I will disguise myself in the human world," Chen Mui volunteered without any hesitation.

"Chen Mui-," the Dragovian Lord responded.

"He is my grandson," Chen Mui interrupted, "and the only link I have to Xia. I will not let him travel a world he has never stepped foot in alone."

Both men stared each other down, none giving an inch. Dragovian Lord sighed. "Fine. You will be allowed to accompany Eight on this quest, but you must stay in the form of a field mouse for as long as you remain outside of the Dragovian Sanctuary. I shall not allow you to expose the existence of our people."

Chen Mui could tell that his Lord was very serious and would not change his mind about this. _'That is fine with me,'_ the old man thought to himself. _'As long as I am able to follow my grandson, I would have taken the form of a dung beetle.'_ Chen Mui nodded.

The Dragovian Lord turned back towards the ledge. "Get ready to leave as soon as possible." Clearly dismissed, Chen Mui left the Heavenly Dias as quickly as he could.

* * *

Eight finished folding some more clothes into his bag. He was currently wearing a long, yellow vest that went past his knees and a belt that tied both his vest and long, blue shirt to his hip. He had finished packing his sword in its holster on his hip. Xin came into the room, holding something tied in white handkerchiefs. "Eight." She handed the packages to Eight. "Violet packed enough fruites and dried meats to last you and Master Chen Mui for about a week."

Eight laughed. "I'm surprised that she didn't try to pack the whole kitchen for us."

Xin also laughed. "She probably would have if Yuan and I hadn't managed to convince her that you and the Master would not be able to carry all of it by yourself." Xin's expression became more somber. "We all wish that we could help you on your journey."

"I know." And he really did. As he packed of food into his pack, he remembered all of the good times he had with the others in this house. These people helped his grandfather raise him after he was born, and they never treated him like the other members of the Dragovian Sanctuary did. Violet has always been like a mother, while Yuan and Xin have acted as his uncle and aunt respectively. They have always been like part of the family to him and like family; they would help him if they could. "But the Dragovian Lord specifically picked grandpa and I to complete this mission."

Xin nodded. "Please come home safely."

"We'll try," Eight reply. That was the closest thing he could promise. Xin left to complete her duties around the house. Eight tightened the strap of her bag and put it around his shoulder. Chen Mui had just walked into the room. "Oh grandpa, we have to leave as soon as possible. You should pack a bag quickly.

"I will not be needing a bag."

Eight paused. "What do you mean? You're going to need a bad with all your necessities."

Chen Mui sighed. "The Dragovian Lord is worried that my presence will expose the Dragovians in the human world. In order to prevent that, I will transform myself as an animal as soon as we leave the Sanctuary, this form I have chosen for myself will have no use for a bag."

Eight nodded. _'That makes sense I guess.'_ "Then there is no reason for us to stay here any longer." Both grandfather and grandson walked out of the house, they said goodbye to the other members of the house. Before they could leave, Violet managed to force a fresh loaf of bread into Eight's bag and lecture them like a mother hen, much to the pair's chagrin.

"- and make sure that your grandfather doesn't strain himself!" Violet yelled. "He's not as young as he used to be."

"I'll be sure to do that!" Eight exclaimed. The pair left the house. "Take care!"

All three servants waved. Only once the masters of the house were out of sight. "I hope that they stay safe," Xin said.

"So do I," Yuan sighed.

"They will come back safe if they know what's good for them," Violet answered confidently. She walked back into the house. "While they're on this mission for our Lord, we have to take care of the house for them while they're gone. So get back to work already."

The younger servants watched the older cook go into the house and shared a smile. The woman was right; their masters would come back, and it wouldn't do to have the house in disarray while they were gone. Yuan took Xin's hand in his hand and they both walked back inside.


End file.
